It received critical acclaim for the editing and the visuals, while reviewers noted that it took inspiration from Madonna's older videos, such as "Erotica", "Justify My Love", "Human Nature" and "Vogue".

"Girl Gone Wild" was performed as the opening song during The MDNA Tour (2012), in a Gothic cathedral setting showing religious iconography, with Madonna her dancers executing choreography in high-heels.

In December 2010, Madonna posted a message on her Facebook page exclaiming that she was on the lookout for "maddest, sickest, most badass people" as collaborators for making new dance music.

[2] Among the collaborators enlisted for the project was Italian record producer Benny Benassi, who at that time was working on the release of his fourth studio album Electroman.

His label Ultra Records' head Patrick Moxey felt that the producer's "aggressive" sounds would "work well with some of the major American superstar artists".

[4] A day after Madonna's halftime show performance on the Super Bowl XLVI, the singer confirmed to Ryan Seacrest that "Girl Gone Wild" would be released as the second single from the album.

Shot by fashion photographers Mert and Marcus, who had also created the covers for MDNA,[8] the "Girl Gone Wild" artwork showed Madonna wearing lingerie by English retailer Agent Provocateur.

[9] On February 4, 2012, Joe Francis, the creator of the Girls Gone Wild video franchisee, threatened to sue Madonna if she sang the song during her halftime show performance.

[11] On hearing about the allegations, Moxey commented that Francis only wanted attention from the press, adding: "When I looked at ASCAP, I noticed there were approximately 50 records called 'Girls Gone Wild'.

[33] Robbie Daw from Idolator said that "Madge [is] doing what she does best: turning up the heat on the dance floor," but that "the song is packed with tried-but-true sexual pop cliches.

"[27] In a pre-release screening of MDNA, Matthew Todd from the same magazine praised the "pop stomper" track, writing: "The production might sound like she's been listening to a fair bit of Rihanna, but who's counting.

[28] A writer for Virgin Media gave the song four out of five stars, writing: "It sounds a tad familiar, not to mention inappropriate in a track named after a US porn-movie series, but Benny Benassi then lifts 'Girl Gone Wild' into a fantastic throbbing Kelis-style dancefloor-filler.

[40] In a review of MDNA, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph praised the track calling it a "lean, sleek, electro stomper, balancing the twin requirements of radio friendly hooks and dance floor drive".

[41] Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "insistent and sleek" but hoped that Madonna would have found different lyrical references than Lauper's song.

[42] Matthew Parpetua from Pitchfork praised the Benassis' production, adding that it was worthy of "competing with singers like Kesha, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry on pop radio".

Copsey found it was not "forward-thinking" like Madonna's past records and cited the lyrics "Girls they just wanna have some fun / Get fired up like a smoking gun" as an example of this, although he concluded his review writing "we defy anyone who isn't singing this back to themselves immediately after.

"[46] In another article for The Guardian, Gareth Grundy proclaimed "Girl Gone Wild" to be a "clumsy rave-pop",[47] while Amanda Dobbins from New York panned it as a "paint-by-numbers, 808- and Tanqueray-referencing dance track that falls even flatter when compared to its source material".

[48] Malone from NME found no innovation in the track, writing, "combined with earlier single 'Give Me All Your Luvin'' it points to an uneasy mix for album MDNA.

[50] Chicago Tribune journalist Greg Kot believed that unlike Madonna's 80s Catholic imagery, "Girl Gone Wild" does not venture into new territory with its sound.

[55] Jon Pareles from The New York Times called it "shallow, effective club fodder", describing it as containing "blippy stereo-hopping synthesizers and generic title".

[57] Jude Rogers from The Guardian wrote that "the filter sweeps used brilliantly throughout Confessions on a Dance Floor don't sparkle here", calling it a "mediocre banger with a terrible title"; nonetheless, she placed the song at number 73 on her ranking of Madonna's singles, in honor of her 60th birthday.

It was the second Dance Club Songs chart topper from MDNA, following first single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'", which had peaked at number-one three weeks prior.

"Girl Gone Wild" ends with Madonna dropping the fog machine and a final scene showing the singer's face with black colored tears pouring from her eyes.

He explained that references from the singer's music video for the 1992 song "Erotica" are present with Madonna's "platinum bombshell" look as well as scenes of leather-underwear wearing men and S&M.

[82] In another article, Jocelyn Vena from MTV News thought that the video was "the perfect homage" to the singer's Sex book and her Erotica (1992) days, describing it as "crunchy, sexy and edgy".

contributor Nathalie Finn commented: "Madonna doesn't need a song to tell us she's ready to dance all night—just one look at her and you figure she could outlast the average partyer under any circumstances".

"[86] Ethan Sack from New York Daily News said that "it's a tossup over who looks better in tights and high-heels, the 53-year-old Material Girl or the bevy of shirtless male dancers who gyrate around her.

[97] Onstage several dancers wearing buddhist and Christian monks' robes swung a giant thurible back and forth, as it burnt incense and appeared to cleanse the venue.

The performance of the song at the November 19–20, 2012 shows in Miami, at the American Airlines Arena, were recorded and released in Madonna's fourth live album, MDNA World Tour.

[105][106] Shawn Kellner from the Chicago Music Magazine praised the costumes and the dancing, while Jodi Duckett from The Morning Call felt that the "characters that looked like Tibetan monks [...], the gonging of bells and Madonna arriving in a gilded cage" made the performance seem "very 'Da Vinci Code' like".